Vincent RIOU (FRA), the winner of the last Vendée Globe and the 2003 edition of the Calais Round Britain Race, has just dealt the death-blow on the eighth night of racing. With only 300 miles left to go to loop-the-loop, the skipper of PRB has almost doubled his lead, leaving the orange 60 footer over 40 miles ahead and looking unbeatable.

RIOU made his break last night extending his lead to over 50 miles, although that had fallen back to around 40 at noon today. In second place Jean LE CAM's (FRA) VM Matériaux in less than 2 miles ahead of Jérémie BEYOU (FRA) Delta Dore. RIOU now has enough room to manoeuvre to control his pursuers and solely a zone of light wind at the entry to the Channel casts a shadow of doubt over his crown and the hour of his arrival. Though the weather forecasts are still uncertain to say the least, the arrival of the winner is predicted for midday tomorrow.

The Orange Wave

This morning at 05:00, the orange hull of PRB was slipping along 100 miles offshore of Newcastle. Its adversaries meantime had only got down as far as Edinburgh. Yesterday the British skipper Jonny MALBON on Artemis Ocean Racing, fifth in the ranking, observed that the leader had not made a single error since the start and he did not see why he would suddenly make one now. There is no choice but to accept that, despite a high risk zone created by a small minimum depression, RIOU has managed to a sneak along the course, enabling him to go twice as fast as his pursuers at times.

'It's cool, things are going well and even if the wind is gentle, we should make Calais tomorrow,' said RIOU. 'We haven't made too many mistakes with our trajectory. We had the chance to get away and then progressed from there'.

PRB passed through the windless zone yesterday, and according to Gildas MORVAN (FRA), crew on VM Matériaux, it was not as large as forecast. 'We were slowed down for a couple of hours, but now we're off again. To get back in the action we'd need a serious park-up ahead and we have a lot of boats behind.'

This zone, with its easterly wind rotation in the west, saw the return of yet another pea-souper and very high humidity in the air. 'The new wind has filled in but it's not steady yet,' continued MORVAN. 'We're constantly trimming the sails and we have 8 knots of westerly.'

Battle For Second

Less than 2 miles behind VM Matériaux, Delta Dore is increasingly well positioned for a podium place. The conversation this morning was brief but visibly Pascal BIDÉGORRY (FRA) translated the atmosphere aboard well. However, it is the second place they are aiming for now and not the first. 'That's life, we haven't a chance. What do you want me to say...?'

Ninety miles further back, seventh in the ranking after being overtaken by the girls on Roxy, Alexandre TOULORGE (FRA) on Maisonneuve, was suffering from the light conditions the leaders had just crossed. 'We are becalmed and hunting around for a way out. We're on the edge of the zone of light airs, hoping it won't be too long.'Maisonneuve was making less than a knot of headway at 05:00, whilst PRB was weaving along with the wind on the beam at 11 knots. Stress for one, the joy of his next crown for the other!

Fortunately for Dee CAFFARI's (GBR) crew on Aviva at the back of the fleet, they have found the wind at last and are making the fastest speed of the fleet in a bid to make up their deficit, now just 284 miles behind and making double the speed of PRB.

Tom Burton (AUS) and Alison Young (GBR) hit the right note in the Laser and Laser Radial at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne as they took out the top honours and qualification spots to the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final.

It was double Australian gold in the Paralympic classes. Matt Bugg (AUS) came out on top in the 2.4mR whilst London 2012 Paralympic SKUD18 gold medallists Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) were triumphant in the two person keelboat.

Lithuania's Juozas Bernotas came out on top in the Men's RS:X whilst Russia's Stefania Elfutina was triumphant in the Women's RS:X. Both sailors claim the first Abu Dhabi ISAF Sailing World Cup Final spots whilst Jock Calvert (AUS) and Joanna Sterling (AUS) picked up the Oceanic spots for the Emirati finale.

There was some fast paced action in the 49er and 49erFX Medal Races at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne as Nathan Outteridge & Iain Jensen (AUS) and Maia & Ragna Agerup (NOR) claimed the honours and Abu Dhabi final spots.

A tight group of five young Papua New Guinean (PNG) Laser sailors are stepping up their 2015 Pacific Games competition program using this week's ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne. PNG is one of 33 countries represented at the important Oceanic event, the largest Olympic sailing regatta in the southern hemisphere.

Melbourne, Australia will host the final Rio 2016 Paralympic Games qualification regatta in 2015. With just under one year until the event, the 2015 IFDS Worlds was launched at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne kick starts the journey to the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates with qualification spots and top ranking points available in the Australian city.

Four boats in the Volvo Ocean Race celebrated rounding the venerated landmark of Cape Horn on Monday, a pleasure cruelly denied Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) after the Chinese boat's mast was broken early in a dramatic day on Leg 5.

The wind played dirty tricks all day in Palma on the sailors and race committees who had to juggle with big shifts and different pressure. From 4 to 20 knots, and reaching 40 in some gusts, the wind turned around the bay playing with everybody's nerves.

Ghosting across the line in the inky blackness of a Mediterranean spring night, finally slicing through the finish line set on the very waters where some 40 odd years ago he cut his teeth as a young, aspiring sailor harbouring great dreams, at 01:47:00hrs local time Guillermo Altadill and his talented, ever reliable Chilean co-skipper Jose Muñoz secured second placed in this third edition of the Barcelona World Race, the round the world race for two crew which left the Catalan capital on December 31st 2014.

Algoa Bay brought lighter conditions on Sunday, and after a postponement waiting for the wind to settle, the race got underway in 7 knots of breeze from the south-east. Ted Conrads and Brian Haines from the USA were the pathfinders, and opened up the gate for the fleet as they sailed out to the right-hand side of the course.